Method of crimping proteinaceous fibers



Nov. 20, 1951 L. w. RAINARD 2,575,838

METHOD oF CRIMPING PRoTEINAcEoUs FIBERS Filed Nov. 5o, 194s 2 SHEETS- SHEET 1 INVENTOR. fo M//PA//VA/Qo Nov. 20, 195] L. W. RAINARD METHOD oF CRIMPING PROTEINACEOUS FIBERS 2 SHEETS SHEET 2 Filed Nov. 30, 1948 INVEN TOR so W @AM/4,90

WQ WQQQ @www2 Patented Nov. zo, 1951 2,575,838

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF CRIMPIN G PROTEINACEOUS FIBERS Leo W. Rainard, Nyack, N. Y., assignor to Alexander Smith, Incorporated, a corporation oi' New York Application November 30, 1948, Serial No. 62,727 12 Claims. (Cl. 2875) This invention relates tothe treatment of wool partially relaxing the internal stress produced and other proteinaceous fibers and has for an in such fibers by the mechanical crimping opobject to improve the carding and spinning chareration, thus increasing the apparent tensile acteristics of such fibers. strength and the apparent average fiber length It is known that certain wools, such as South as determined by the Suder method, increasing American, New Zealand, Iceland, Leicester, and the drawing power of the roving and the tensile others, are naturally less highly crimped than strength of the yarn spun therefrom. wools from other localities and breeds and are A further object of the invention is accordless useful for many purposes, such as for use ingly to improve the drawing characteristics of as fabric pile. Also the lower grade portions rovings made from such fibers. reduce breakage of fleece from blooded sheep are generally less during the spinning, and improve the tensile highly crimped than the finer fibers. The lack strength of the yarn. of crimp of such wools affects their tensile Another object is to provide a continuous proc- 'W strength, compressibility, resilience, and process for crimping and dyeing such fibers. essing. such as carding and spinning, and may l5 In accordance with the present invention, the determine the limiting iineness of the yarns spun crimps are relaxed to a desired degree by treatfrom these wools. ment in a relaxing bath under controlled con- The lack of crimp in such wools results in a ditions of time, temperature and pH. In one roving of such poor drawing characteristics that embodiment the relaxing bath may comprise breakage occurs frequently on the spinning frame water or a weak acid held at the boiling point or in some cases the lack of crimp makes it and arranged so that the slubbing from the practically impossible to form a roving that can crimper passes through the bath before drying be handled on the spinning frame. or storage.

The present invention provides 4for adding In a further embodiment the relaxing is efcrimp to such wools under conditions to improve fected in a dyeing zone maintained under conthe drawing and spinning characteristics of rovtrolled conditions through which the siubbing ings made therefrom and also for the addition of passes continuously as a part of a crimping and crimp to wools higher than carpet grade, but dyeing cycle, the dyeing and relaxing being eflower than fine clothing grade to increase their fected in a single step.

usefulness. The invention also provides for increasing the In accordance with a process described and moisture content of the fibers in the setting claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. chamber to the value required for efiicient setting. 38,657 filed July 14, 1948, the crimp is produced The novel features which are characteristic mechanically by feeding the pretreated fibers of this invention will be better understood by between feed rolls into acrimping chamber which 3' referring to the following description, taken in is maintained full of fibers under a predetermined connection with the accompanying drawings in back pressure. As the fibers are yforced into which certain specific embodiments have been the crimping chamber, they are laid in a zigset forth for purposes of illustration. zag form and are pressed to form angular bends In the drawings:

or crimps with intervening straight portions the 4* Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of one form of length of which depends upon several factors, apparatus for carrying out the present invention;

such as the nature of the pretreatment and the and pressure to which the fibers are subjected in the Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of an apparatus crimping chamber. for the continuous crimping and dyeing process.

The crimp is set by treatment in a setting -f Referring to the drawings more in detail, the chamber with steam under controlled conditions crimper is shown as comprising a frame I0 carof time, temperature, moisture and pH in the rying a pair of feed rolls Ii and l2 driven by range below which the natural resilience of the suitable means, not shown. The feed roll i2 is fibers resists deformation and above which dekeyed to a shaft 20 journalled in bearing blocks gradation occurs, the relationship being such that 2l which are slidable in the frame lll. The roll the fibers are brought to the plastic condition i2 is held in pressure engagement with the necessary for the formation of a permanent material fed between the rolls by springs 22 crimp. seated around threaded rods 23 which bear Such crimped fibers have improved spinning against the bearing blocks 2|. The rods 23 excharacteristics as compared with the original l tend through a bracket 24 attached to the frame fibers before crimping, particularly when .the Ill and carry nuts 25 and adjusting knobs 25. original fibers were of the less highly crimped The nuts 26 are held against rotation by the variety. The present invention, however. proframe I0. The springs 22 are seated between vides for still further increasing the carding the nuts 25 and the bracket 24 and their tension and spinning characteristics of such fibers by G0 may be adjusted by means of the knobs 26.

Positioned below the rolls Ii and i2 is a vertical tube 33 having a conical bore 34, forming a setting chamber. The tube 33 is attached to `a saddle 35 having a tapered central bore 35 formin a crimping chamberY and having a curvedgupper surface 31 conforming to the bight of the rolls ii and i2 and machined to have a slight running clearance from the surface of the rolls. The saddle 35 is formed with a plurality of radial passages 42 for the injection of a setting agent into the crimping chamber. The radial passages 42 communicate with an annular passage 43 in the saddle 35 which is closed by a collar 44 to form an inlet manifold. The fluid is supplied to the annular passage 43 by a pipe 45 registering with a port 46 in said collar. Water may be injected into said fluid in the pipe 45 through a pipe 55.

At its lower end the tube33 carries a flange 50. A pair of doors 52 are hinged to the flange by hinges 53 and are held closed against the tapered end 54 of the'fiange' 50 by weights attachedto arms 56 secured to the doors.

The fibers to be crimped are fed over a guide roll 50 to the feed rolls il and i2. preferably in the form of a rope or a web 59. The fibers are held in the crimping and setting chambers by the doors 52 until they have been packed sufficiently to force the doors slightly open against the force of thev weights 55. The back pressure of the packed fibers causes the fibers which are forced against the packed fibers by the feed rolls to be folded over in zig-zag crimps, the spacing of which depends upon the nature of the fibers and the back pressure. e to the fact that the rope or web is compated to. a thin ribbon by the feed rolls, the crimps are formed by bending the'iibers back and forth in a direction transverse to the axes of the rolls.

A setting agent, such as steam, is introduced through the pipe 45 and passages 42 into the mass of packed fibers. Water to increase the moisture content of the fibers may be injected through the pipe 58. Of course the area of injection may be varied, but should be sufficiently spaced below the top of the saddle 35 so that the mass of fibers forms a seal. The pressure of the steam and the tapered setting chamber help to overcome or reduce the friction of the bers against the walls and facilitate their passage through the setting chamber.

The crimped rope or slubbing 5I discharged from the doors 52 is fed to a tank 62 containing the relaxing liquid, such as water, which may be heated by steam from a steam pipe 53 extending into the tank 52 and having holes 64 for the discharge of steam therefrom. A valve 65 in the steam line provides for oontrol of the water temperature. A reagent. such as a weak acid, may be supplied to the liquid in the tank 62 from a receiver 56 disposed ebove the tank 62, through a feed pipe 61, controlled by a valve 68.

. The rope 5i is withdrawn from the tank 82 between squeeze rolls which are disposed to drain the excess liquid back into the tank 62 and is then passed to dryers or is picked and carded to be used as stock wool for dyeing, or treating and spinning in the usual manner.

More specifically the raw wool is first opened,

scoured, for example with soap and soda ash in several stages, then washed and dried in the usual manner to form stock wool. The scouring and washing may be carried out under conditions to leave the stock wool'with the desired 4 pH for crimping. This pretreated stock wool is fed directly at a uniform rate to the feed rolls Il and I2 of the crimper or may be fed to a webforming device such as a card and fed as a web or condensed into a rope which is fed to the feed rolls Ii and i2 as a sliver or slubbing 59. If a more uniform feed is required, the stock' wool may be picked and carded and condensed to a rope for the above purpose after one or more stages of carding. A uniformity in density of feedstock is preferred to prevent jamming or slipping at the feed rolls or undue lateral movement of the feed rolls.

In either case, the fibers are stuffed by the feed rolls Ii and I2'into the crimping chamber and through the setting chamber and are forced out of the bottom of the setting chamber against the pressure exerted by the discharge doors 52.

The back pressure at the entrance of the crimping chamber controls the size of the crimp, a higher pressure causing a finer crimp (more crimps per inch) and vice versa.

For equilibrium conditions of moisture content and pH, the setting time varies inversely with the temperature. For temperatures below 212 F., hot water may be injected into the crimping and setting chambers.

For higher temperatures, steam under pressure may be used. The quality of steam should be selected to cause the fibers to reach the desired temperature and moisture content. Due to the packing of the mass of fibers, they are relatively impermeable to steam, and pressures suited to produce the desired high temperatures may be used. With high pressure steam or superheated With a pH of 8.0 to 9.0 a setting time of 60 to 70 seconds at 240 F. to 250 F. is sufficient to produce a set that will resist boiling for three minutes in water, or a minute dyeing cycle with little loss in crimp as evidenced by frequency and amplitude determinations. With a pH of 4.0 to 4.5 at the same temperature, a setting time of seconds to seconds is required to produce the same resistance to loss of crimp. In general the setting time varies inversely with the pH, the other conditions being the same.

The crimped fibers are now passed through the relaxing bath in the tank 62. This bath may be heated to boiling by direct steam injection and reagent such as hydroxyacetic acid may be added from the receiver 66 at a rate to maintain a pH of 4.0 to 4.5 The slubbing is pulled through the bath by the squeeze rolls 10 at a rate to leave the fibers in the bath for from 30 to 60 seconds.

Referring now to the embodiment of Fig. 2. the slubbing 15 emerges from the crimper 15, which is similar to the crimper described in Fig. l, and passes iirst through a cooling bath comprising water in a tank 11 which may be continuously supplied with water through a pipe 16 controlled by a valve 19 and may be provided with an overflow 50. The slubbing is removed from the tank 11 between squeeze rolls 82 which are driven in a suitable manner and are disposed to drain the excess waterback into the tank 11. The cooling bath serves to produce uniform conditions of temperature and moisture content in the slubbing, the moisture content being controlled by the pressure exerted by the squeze rolls 92.

The slubbing is then fed over a guide roll 80 into a dye tank 88 containing suitable dye material. Dye paste, for example, may be contained in a receiver 01 and fed through a pipe 80 controlled by a valve 89 to the dye tank 00. Cooling coils 90 may be disposed in the dye tank 96 and connected for the circulation of a cooling medium, such as cool water, therethrough, or, if the dyeing is to take place under elevated temperature, a heating fiuid may be passed through the coils 90. The dye bath is preferably maintained cool so as to prevent the dye from being absorbed into the fibers.

The slubbing is shown as passing through the tank 96 around the rolls 92 and as drawn through the tank by means of squeeze rolls 93 which are driven in any suitable manner and are positioned to drain the dye material squeezed from the slubbing back into the tank 00.

After emerging from the dye tank 99 the slubbing is passed through a suitable heating zone for setting the dye. shown as a steam chamber 95, to which steam is supplied from a pipe 96 at a rate controlled by a valve 91. The slubbing is passed back and forth in the steam chamber 95 over guide rolls 99 and is drawn therethrough by squeeze rolls 99 which may be driven in any suitable manner. The relaxing takes place when the fibers are heated in the steam chamber and may be controlled by varying the moisture content, time and temperature. If 'the dye bath itself is heated to near the boiling point, the relaxing would take place in this bath. In general heat and moisture under controlled conditions are required for this step.

From the setting zone 95, the slubbing is passed through a wash tank having an overflow |0| to which wash water is supplied from a k pipe |02 controlled by a valve |03. 'I'he slubbing is drawn through the wash tank |00 at a suitable rate by squeeze rolls |04 which are positioned to drain the excess water back into the tank |00. that may have adhered to the fibers.

From the tank |00 the slubbing is passed into a drying zone. shown as a drying chamber |05, which is heated in any suitable manner. The

slubbing is passed back and forth over guide rolls |00 in the drying chamber and emerges therefrom as a dried, crimped slubbing which may be fed to the carding machine, formed into a roving. and spun in the usual manner.

The above continuous dyeing process combines the relaxing step with the dyeing step and provides for a continuous crimping-relaxing-dyeing treatment.'

The relaxing bath of Fig. 1 may consist essentially of water although the pH may be ccntrolled by the addition of suitable acids or alkalies to adjust the pH content to the value suitable for subsequent dyeing. The time required for the relaxing step depends upon the extent to which the crimp has been set. If the crimp has been highly set, a longer relaxing time is' required, and vice versa. Relaxing periods of from 2 seconds to 2 minutes have been found in general to be satisfactory and have produced a marked increase in tensile strength of the fiber The wash tank removes any dye paste and in the average fiber length asmeasured by the Suder method. It has been found `that by this method the breakage of the rovings during the drawing operation on the spinning frame is greatly reduced and fibers which in their original state were spinnable only with great difficulties and careful adjustment may now be readily treated and spun. to form a yarn having improved properties.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of imparting an artificial crimp to proteinaceous fibers which comprises feeding said fibers into a crimping zone maintained full of a mass of said fibers and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over and crimped as they are forced into said mass of fibers. holding the mass of crimped fibers under pressure in a setting zone, maintaining setting conditions of temperature and moisture content in said setting zone. discharging the crimped fibers from said setting zone, and passing the crimped fibers through a relaxing bath at a temperature and rate to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristics of said fibers.

,2. The method of imparting an artificial crimp to proteinaceous fibers which comprises` feeding said fibers into a crimping zone maintained full of a mass of said fibers and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass of fibers, holding the mass of crimped fibers under pressure in a setting zone. introducing steam and moisture into said setting zone and holding the fibers therein for a time to set the crimp. discharging the crimped fibers from said setting zone. and passing the crimped fibers through a relaxing bath at a temperature and rate to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristies of said fibers.

3. The method of imparting an artificial crimp to proteinaceous fibers which comprises feeding said fibers into a crimping zone maintained full of a mass of said fibers and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass of fibers. holding the mass of crimped fibers under pressure in a setting zone, maintaining setting conditions of temperature and moisture content in said setting zone, discharging the crimped fibers from said setting zone, and passing the crimped fibers through a water bath at a temperature and rate to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristics of said fibers.

4. The method of imparting an artificial crimp to proteinaceous fibers which comprises feeding said fibers into a crimping zone maintained full of a mass of said fibers and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass of fibers, holding the mass of crimped fibers under pressure in a setting zone, maintaining setting conditions of temperature and moisture content in said setting zone, discharging the crimped fibers from said setting zone, and passing the crimped fibers through a bath of water at boiling temperature at a rate to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristics of said fibers.

5. The method set forth in claim 4 in which the water is maintained at the boiling point by direct steam injection.

6. The method` of imparting an artificial crimp of proteinaceous bers which comprises formin said bers into a slubbing. feeding said slubbing intoa crimping zonemaintained full of a mass of said slubbing and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass, holding 'the mass of crimped slubbing under pressure in a setting zone. maintaining setting conditions of' tempeature and moisture in said setting zone, discharging the.crimped slubbing from said setting entrasse -`sone, and passing the same through a relaxing bath at a temperature and rate to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimpingand to improve the spinning characteristics of said bers.

t 7. Themethod of imparting an artificial crimp to proteinaceous bers which comprises forming to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass, holding the mass of crimped slubbing under pressure in a setting zone, maintaining setting conditions of temperature and moisture in said setting zone. discharging the crimped slubbing from said setting zone.and passing the same through a water bath at a temperature and rate to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristics of said bers. Y

8. A continuous crimping, relaxing and dyeing process for protelnaceous bers, which comprises passing said bers into a zone maintained full of a mass of said bers and held under a pressure adapted to cause the bers to be folded overas they are forced into said'mass, feeding the crimped bers to a setting zone maintained under conditions of temperature, moisture content and pressure suited to set said crimp, discharging the fibers from said setting zone to a dyeing zone, and treating the bers in said dyeing zone with a dye solutionunder conditions of time, temperature and moisture suited to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristics of the dyed bers.

9. A continuous crimping, relaxing and dyeing process for proteinaceous bers, which comprises passing said bers into a zone maintained full of a mass of said fibers and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass, feeding the crimped bers to a setting zone maintained under conditions of temperature, moisture content and pressure suited to set said crimp, discharging the fibers from said setting zone to a dyeing zone, treating the bers in said dyeing zone with a dye solution under conditions of time. temperature and moisture suited to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping and to improve the spinning characteristics of the dyed bers, setting the dye by heat, and drying the resultant bers.

10. A continuous method of crimping, relaxing and dyeing proteinaceous bers. which comprises forming said fibers into a slubbing, feeding said slubbing between feed rolls into a crimping zone maintained full of a mass of said slubbing and held under a pressure adapted to cause the 8 bers to be folded over as they are forced 'into said mass, passing the crimped fibers through a setting zone under controlled conditions of time. temperature and moisture adapted to set the crimp therein. feeding the crimped slubbing from said setting zone through a cooling bath under conditions to produce uniform temperature and moisture conditions in the slubbing. feeding the slubbing from said cooling bath through a dye bath, thence through a setting zone toset the dye under conditions to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping, -then passing the dyed slubbing through a washing zone to remove the excess dye and through a drying zone to form a slubbing containing dyed artificially crimped fibers.

1i. A continuous method of crimping. relaxing and dyeing proteinaceous bers which comprises forming said fibers into a slubbing, feeding said slubbing between feed rolls into a crimping zone maintained full of a mass of said' slubbing and held under a pressure adapted to cause the fibers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass, passing the crimped slubbing through a setting zone under controlled conditions of time. temperature. and moisture adapted to set the crimp therein. feeding the crimped slubbing from said setting zone through atwater bath, squeezing excess water from the slubbing. feeding the slubbing from said water bath through a dye bath. then through a steam zone to set --the dye under conditions to at least partially relax the internal stress produced by crimping.' and through a drying zone to form asslubbing containing dyed articiaily crimped bers.

12. A continuous method of crirnping..relaxing and dyeing proteinaceous' bers which comprises forming said bers into a slubbing,- feeding said slubbing between feed rolls into a crimping zone maintained full 'o'famass of saidl slubbing and held under a pressure adapted to cause the bers to be folded over as they are forced into said mass, passing the crimped slubbing through a setting zone under controlled conditions of time, temperature and moisture adapted to set the crimp therein, feeding the crimped slubbing from said setting zone through a water bath, squeezing excess water from the slubbing, feeding the slubbing from said waterl bath through a dye bath, then through a steam zone to set the dye under conditions to at least partially relax the internal stress produced `by crimping, then passing the dyed slubbing through a washing zone and through a drying zone to form a slubbing containing dyed articially crimped bers.

LEO W. RAINARD.

4REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ie of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 332,514 Hamilton Dec.- 15, 1885 1,719,899 Mudd July' 9, 1929 2,139,543 Finlayson et al. Dec. 6, i938 2,300,791 Lodge Nov. 3, 1942 2,321,757 Lodge June 15, 1943 2,394,165 Getaz Feb. 5, 1946 2,504,183 Croft Apr. 18, 1950 

1. THE METHOD OF IMPARTING AN ARTIFICIAL CRIMP TO PROTEINACEOUS FIBERS WHICH COMPRISES FEEDING SAID FIBERS INTO A CRIMPING ZONE MAINTAINED FULL OF A MASS OF SAID FIBERS AND HELD UNDER A PRESSURE ADAPTED TO CAUSE THE FIBERS TO BE FOLDED OVER AND CRIMPED AS THEY ARE FORCED INTO SAID MASS OF FIBERS, HOLDING THE MASS OF CRIMPED FIBERS UNDER PRESSURE IN A SETTING ZONE, MAINTAINING SETTING CONDITIONS OF TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE CONTENT IN SAID SETTING ZONE, DISCHARGING THE CRIMPED FIBERS FROM SAID SETTING ZONE, AND PASSING THE CRIMPED FIBERS THROUGH A RELAXING BATH AT A TEMPERATURE AND RATE TO AT LEAST PARTIALLY RELAX THE INTERNAL STRESS PRODUCED BY CRIMPING AND TO IMPROVE THE SPINNING CHARACTERISTICS OF SAID FIBERS. 